Søren Thilo Funder

Denmark

Søren Thilo Funder’s works are carefully crafted cinematic mash-ups of diverse cultural fields and social histories. They serve as formal investigations into the power relations of modern day society and the truisms of written and unwritten history. Proposing new connections between historical, cultural and political matter, they open up new potential spaces – third places – for political contemplation and counter-memory.

Swerve (You’re Gonna Die Up There)

2016
HD Video, 10’ 00”, with sound

Swerve (You’re Gonna Die Up There) sets out to reconstruct the illusion and history of cinema with an undertow of Cold War symbolism. It is only moments since the girl Regan Theresa MacNeil interrupted the party, addressing Captain Billy Cutshaw with the eerie forewarning: “You’re gonna die up there”. Now, the astronaut Billy Cutshaw – who first appeared in The Exorcist (1973) prior to a space mission, and later as mental patient in The Ninth Configuration (1980) – is driving through the dark streets of Washington DC. During this drive, he will meet his future self, who will convince him not to go to the moon. Against the background of this meeting, the work reflects on the psychological and also social and societal implications of space travel.